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Today was my last day of the conference, although it continues until Wednesday for some of the higher echelon of ALA Division and committee folks. It has been my most action packed ALA conference to date and it’s been worth it (but I’m ready to head home!).

My first meeting of the day started at 8 am. I have been assigned to a new committee for the next 1 1/2 years – the LITA National Forum 2009 Planning Committee. This was our first chance to meet each other and start the planning process. Unfortunately, it conflicted with the Lexis-Nexis breakfast where I was receiving the award (for the second time). So, I rushed in to the committee meeting, introduced myself, sat in for 10 minutes, then had to leave. I hated being unable to fully participate, but what are you going to do?

I enjoyed the Lexis-Nexis breakfast thoroughly, and even more after I had finished my remarks upon receiving the award. There was a very big crowd there and it was a bit intimidating to have to stand at the podium and talk for even a few minutes. But, it helped that I knew that several of my ZSR colleagues had come to the breakfast to support me (I know it wasn’t the free food that pulled them in). Thanks to Sarah, Cristina, Carolyn, Lauren, Lynn and (non-too former colleague) Mary Horton, for coming and providing me moral support! I also really enjoyed Dana Milbank’s talk about Homo Politicus and the Potomac Man. It was fun to be sitting right next to him at the podium and be able to watch him move through his notes as he spoke. He sounded as though he was talking completely from memory but had nicely structured content to present. I liked the fact I was presented with a copy of his book too!

It was back to the exhibit hall mid-day and I was able to catch Lauren P.’s third poster session of the conference. This time she repeated presenting the poster she created about her student assistant training tools. She had lots of interest and visitors while I was there.

I attended the ACRL President’s Program in the afternoon (already reported upon by Lynn). I attended even though I was feeling a bit worn out, thinking that, if it wasn’t interesting, I could slip out. Instead, I was totally engaged listening (on the floor, since it was packed) to Dan Ariely talk about how irrational most people’s reasoning and decision-making is. He gave many intriguing examples of irrational reasoning, but one concept that caught my attention was his observation that we work in two different worlds: a social one and a financial one. He maintains that when these two mix, things get ugly. His example was of a friend who has a flat tire. As a friend, you are willing to help him change it. What happens when, instead, he offers you a few dollars to help him out, instead of calling on you as a friend to do it for nothing? Suddenly it’s become a financial transaction, replacing the former social relationship. And, as a financial transaction, $2.00 isn’t worth the trouble. It colors how you think of each other, and it’s hard, if not impossible, to return to the social relationship afterward. It something I’ve observed happening many times through my life, but had never really considered why things got sticky! I so enjoyed his talk that I did something I’ve never done before. When I walked out of the presentation, I headed right for the table that had his book for sale, and bought a copy. I hope it’s as good as I think it will be.

I ended my conference day by visiting Sarah at the ALA Welcome Desk at the Membership Pavilion. As a part of the Ambassador program, Sarah volunteered to staff the desk this afternoon. You can see there are many ways to participate at the ALA Conference.